Long, longer, Luns
Whilst Stikker was foreign minister for four years and De Hoop Scheffer for only 1.5, Luns lasted 19 years. When a new cabinet took office, he wondered who he would govern with next. No Dutch minister lasted longer than him. After, he became the secretary-general of NATO for 13 years. Having passed Lubbers in August 2022, Rutte is now the Netherlands' longest-serving prime minister. Due to the introduction of a maximum term at NATO, Rutte will not be able to take Luns' crown any time soon. However, after several extensions of his term, current secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has been in office for almost ten years.
Press conference of 1979 NATO meeting. NATO Secretary-General Luns speaking. Photo: NA/Anefo
Party change
Another fact that Rutte's three predecessors have in common is that prior to their party membership, they were also members of another party. Stikker co-founded the Partij van de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom) (1946-1948) before becoming the first chairman of the new VVD party. Incidentally, he also left that party again from 1952 to 1972 after conflicts with VVD leader Piet Oud. De Hoop Scheffer was a member of D66 in his younger years, and Luns was known to have been a member of the NSB from 1933-1936. Mark Rutte was always a VVD member and even chairman of the JOVD, the VVD's youth organisation. At the time of their switch to NATO, all four men were members of (a predecessor of) the CDA or the VVD and were thus centre-right in the political spectrum.
Party positions
All four men have been party leaders or had a high rank in their party. In these positions, they achieved varying degrees of success. For instance, Dirk Stikker became party leader for the Partij van de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom) in 1946. He was one of the founders of that party, which would later merge into the VVD, and gained six seats, which was considered a “poor result.[2] In his memoirs, published in 1966, Stikker stated that he had never identified himself with a single party: "In my heart, I am not a party man...”[3]
In 1998, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had to find his way back to the party after the CDA had lost 20 seats four years earlier. However, he, too, could have achieved a better result. After losing another five seats, it was a new low for the Christian Democrats.
For Joseph Luns, he was arguably in a better position. He was never the party leader, but between 1959 and 1971, he was always in the top five of the KVP candidate list in South Holland.[4] Luns was even the most admired Dutchman from 1963 until the end of his ministership, making him even more popular than Mies Bouwman. [5] His great popularity among the Dutch population was also evidenced by the number of preferential votes he attracted. In 1967, he received almost 86,000 votes, equating to two parliamentary seats. Chamber chairman Van Thiel came in second with 'only' 22,376 votes. Although Rutte has run several highly successful campaigns, his start as a political leader has been rough. In 2006, he narrowly won the party leader election position from Rita Verdonk, who became his 'running mate'. However, later that year in the elections to the House of Representatives, she secured 67,355 more votes than Rutte at position two of the candidate list.
